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Freedom of speech and its validity has been hotly debated since the earliest days of modern thinking. It has been suppressed before, and still is in some parts of the world. Luckily, we live in a more enlightened part of the world, and as such, rarely (if ever) have our freedom of speech legitimately threatened, and its similar in other parts of the world.

However, in response to their depictions of the prophet Muhammad, the French satirical weekly newspaper Charlie was attacked by Islamic extremists identifying themselves with Al-Qaeda in Yemen. The attack resulted in the death of twelve employees of the newspaper.

Charb, the editor of Charlie Hebdo was among those killed, and in response to an attack in 2011, Charb said “I am not afraid of reprisals, I have no children, no wife, no car, no debt. It might sound a bit pompous, but I’d prefer to die on my feet than to live on my knees”

Charb, and Charlie Hebdo at large epitomizes free press, free speech, and freedom of thought. Although their printing of scathing and sometimes insulting images did make some of us cringe, but we should support their right to do so. Neglect of free speech is the intellectual death of the first world.